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Burglaries have recently been a hot topic for residents in Northeast Philadelphia. But what exactly constitutes a burglary? Many confuse the term with theft or robbery.
Burglaries fall under an entirely different category. The term is defined as the act of entering a building with the intent to commit a crime without a weapon.
Last year, there were 2,432 burglaries that took place in the Northeast. The 2nd, 7th, 8th and 15th Police Districts have been making appearances at local civic group meetings to address residents’ concerns.
Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey was present at the Lawncrest Community Association’s meeting on June 22.
“We’re [the City of Philadelphia] up in burglaries.” he said “A lot of it is residential. There’s some commercial burglaries, so some areas are seeing an upward trend in that. Burglary across the country is not an easy crime to solve. Usually there are no witnesses. Usually there is very little, if any forensic evidence that you can gather at the scene.”
The Philadelphia Police Department’s new interactive Crime Mapping application was created as part of its Incident Transmittal System and gives the public free access to criminal data that is recorded in their neighborhoods.
While overall theft has developed an upward trend in Philadelphia, the Northeast’s most recent burglary crime maps are displaying conflicting statistics.
People using this application must keep in mind that these maps do contain incidents that are originally reported to the police and are subject to change upon investigation. The information one can find, however, will still shed some light on the state of Philadelphia’s communities when it comes to criminal activity. The Philadelphia Police Department notes the data collected have a 96 percent to 98 percent geocoding accuracy.
Geocoding refers to relating sets of information to geographic coordinates you would find on a map. Individuals logging on to the site will be faced with three selections including a location (this can be the name of a building, an intersection, or a specific address), a crime category and a date range to choose from. Philadelphia residents can create their own crime maps at https://citymaps.phila.gov/CrimeMap/StepByStep.aspx.
According to the application, both burglaries and attempted burglaries in the Northeast are down from last month. This past May, a total of 194 burglaries were reported in the four Northeast Philadelphia Police Districts. The 15th District received the most, with 80 burglaries reported, while the seventh district received the least with only 10. Of the 194 occurrences, nearly three-quarters of them took place in private residences and were executed by force.
With the month of June less than one week from ending, burglary numbers are not as high as some residents may think. From June 1 to June 23, Northeast Philadelphia’s crime mapping system displayed 165 burglaries and attempted burglaries within the four police districts, nearly 30 less from last month’s numbers. The second district currently has 42 reported burglaries for June, while in May, numbers topped out at 70. Overall numbers may be lower so far, but the burglaries that are being reported are regularly happening in private residences and are committed forcefully.
While data for the entire month are yet to be recorded, it is apparent that while this type of criminal activity may not have increased in June, it remains consistent.
On June 12, a string of burglaries rippled through several small businesses along Roosevelt Boulevard. The recently opened Fat Jacks BBQ was one of the establishments that fell victim. Owner and CEO Glenn Gross said whether it’s a home or a business, it can happen to anyone.
“You don’t think it’s going to happen to you. You really don’t. And when it does happen you think, ‘Wow.’ ”
Owner of Angela’s Pizza Joe Finazzo was another victim of the burglary string and said this is the second time his business has suffered a break-in in the past two years.
“All of these smaller places like us. They keep their drawers in there [establishments] at night time, or keep a couple dollars in there,” he said. “So if you hit 10 places at $100 a piece, it’s going to be a 1,000 bucks.”
Li. Thomas Tomlin told attendees at last week’s Lawncrest Civic Association meeting that if they are ever burglarized, it is important to not touch anything.
“Don’t clean your house. Wait for the police to arrive,” he said. “We have orders that we finger print for all burglary scenes.”
From January to April, the Philadelphia Police Department’s Research and Planning Unit documented 912 burglaries in the Northeast. Since this only covers a quarter of the year, where these trends will go remains unknown.
“It’s a serial crime,” Ramsey said. “A person doesn’t commit one burglary and retire. They just keep doing it over and over again. So getting them is very important. But there is an upward trend in that.”
Burglaries in the four districts may be on the current decline, but if this year’s current overall trends continue to rise, New Years’ 2012 may leave residents with statistics that are higher than they’d like to see.
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A simple crime goes a long way, especially if it continues for quite sometime. Such hassle can definitely be a great inconvenience to the victims in more ways than one. The individuals who are involved in the crime should face the music, that’s why the victims should all speak up. A crime, even a simple one, is still a crime.
This burglaries are likely just an effect of the recession, economy and current unemployment rate. Now, none of this makes it right, but we are born with an instinct to survive and to care for this who are our own… Until the underlying cause of spikes in burglary crimes is address, we are likely to see no improvement…
home invasion and burglary are under two different codes… so on that map does it include home invasions and burglary??